The Visions
Vision #1: Every Human lives in peace Peace on earth has become a mantra for the overly idealistic. Socially ambitious leaders such as the ancient Chinese general and philosopher Mozi and Mahatma Gandhi have demonstrated the benefits and failures of nonviolence and peace movements. Yet, there has never been a time in human history that the ideals of peace and nonviolence were not discussed openly. It's clear that human desire peace. All war and violence can be reduced to a single core behavior of humanity: anger. Anger is a response to being threatened. Few humans actually want to harm each other. Often support for large-scale conflicts is poor and misguided, especially once people are killed. Within relationships, violence is damaging. So why is violence such a prolific part of life? This is a complex question, rooted in our cultural and individual senses of right and wrong, and executed through a myriad of human emotions and behaviors. Yet, violence has been decreasing in human cultures throughout time. We are doing a better job at controlling these old competitive behaviors, which means it's possible to continue this progress. Here are a few arenas that are causing violence: * Domestic violence: '''as children grow up in safe environments, they will be more likely to live peacefully with others as adults. We believe that if humans can learn to control their response to threats, and reduce the anger in societies, there will be less harm inflicted on each other. * '''Resource Inequality: as families feel stable and have the resources they need, they will be more likely to interact peacefully with their communities. We believe that if humans can construct societies that ensure resources are distributed fairly, there will be less harm inflicted on each other. * International Disputes: as countries reduce actions interpreted as hostile, others will have fewer reasons to initiate conflict. We believe that if human populations can focus on respectful interactions with all other groups, there will be less harm inflicted on each other. This is how we envision bringing about peace for humanity. Vision #2: Every Human is healthy A physically healthy human is less likely to contract disease, sustain injuries and become sick. Healthier people live longer, happier lives. Diet and exercise are the main methods for maintaining human health. Since the development of modern agriculture, human diets have become unhealthy. This is largely due to the consumption of many more calories than necessary. An ideal diet consists mainly or entirely of plants. Additionally, overall physical activity for humans has declined. Here are a few arenas that are causing unhealthiness: * Access to nutritious foods: Our food production system favors efficiency and durability, which often run at odds with the cost and nutritional value of those foods. We believe that if humans can construct a food production and transportation system that focuses on local, fresh products, there will be more healthy individuals. * Strong addictions to fat, sugar and salt: as we become aware of these influences and learn to control our responses to them, we can gain control over our own diets. We believe that if humans can learn to control their cravings for unhealthy food, there will be more healthy individuals. * '''Lack of physical activity: '''as we become more sedintary, we lack the regular activity that animal bodies need to maintain muscle mass. We believe that if humans can become more physically active, there will be more healthy individuals. This is how we envision bringing about healthier communities. Vision #3: All Resources are Shared and Valued Resources managed by humans are being depleted, wasted, damaged and hoarded. Resource Depletion Examples: * Rainforests are being cut down to make room for human activities such as growing crops and building structures. * Oil and Natural gas is being extracted at rates far higher than they are being replenished. * Fresh water is being removed from massive aquifers at rates far higher than they are being replenished. Resource damage examples: * Runoff from farms is damaging many environments. * Resource waste examples: * Half of all food humans produce is wasted. * Much of what we send to landfills can be recycled or turned into energy. Resource hoarding examples: * Basic resources are not shared evenly among individuals of any community. * Some individuals hold more resources than they are able to utilize in their lifetimes.